


Incident on the Battlefield

by MarioMisc



Series: Oneshots [7]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe - War, Angst, Defection, F/F, Inspired by Trench Warfare to an extent, Military, Oneshot, Pearlina, Pearlina Week, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 05:48:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19387762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarioMisc/pseuds/MarioMisc
Summary: In an AU, Pearl and Marina are soldiers fighting in a second Great Turf War against the Octarians, and an incident brings the two together. (Based on the Alternate Universe prompt for CJ Walker’s Pearlina Week)





	Incident on the Battlefield

**Author's Note:**

> Ow the sequel

A sigh escaped Pearl as she woke up inside her tent. Today was yet another one of those days… Today, her and her comrades were going to the front lines again.

She exited her tent and saw that most of the other soldiers were already wide awake. Meanwhile, she was there with her eyes only half open.

One of the soldiers came up to me. “Houzuki, big day today! We’re heading over to take back the closest major city to Inkopolis!”

“So we’re almost there?”

“Yep! She’s standing tall amidst a brutal siege, but her misery will end soon.”

Pearl sighed again. She wasn’t ready for this. This was going to be her first offensive on a major city.

Years ago, she was enlisted to join the army amid tensions between the Inklings and Octarians. The Great Zapfish was stolen twice. Two wars came and went. Both times, the Octarians lost and the underground was bombed severely, causing the Octarians to overthrow their leader. A new extremist party rose that was somehow more authoritarian than the previous rulers and it vowed to retake former Octarian lands- the territories that they had lost from the Great Turf War. In other words, they wanted to take half the island away from the Inklings.

The surface wasn’t much. Ever since the humans bombed Antarctica and much of the polar ice caps went down, the amount of land on Earth took a nosedive and it still lessened little by little to the time of this war. Tsunamis and hurricanes devastated the shores way too often. The seas shamelessly swallowed away land from the last habitable island on Earth.

Because of just how precious land was, conscription was put into effect by the Inkling government amidst the looming threat the aggressive new Octarian government made. Pearl thought she wouldn’t be drafted. She was a 4’9, hardly active Inkling who had barely any endurance. Nonetheless, those traits weren’t seen as excusable enough. She received training and then went on reserve until the war inevitably started.

It was only a few months ago when the Octarians invaded off of the west coast, only thirty miles away from Inkopolis. The Inklings didn’t sleep late that time. It was a stalemate for many weeks, but then the Octarians broke through and surrounded Inkopolis, besieging the cultural capital of the Inklings. Other armies continued their conquest eastward. Thankfully, the Inklings had been slowing them down a bit.

There was one girl in Pearl’s splatoon that stood out to her. She was a tall, dark-skinned, and very smart Octarian girl who had defected from the Octarian military after studying Inkling culture in secret amidst skepticism of Octarian ideas, at least according to Pearl’s friend. Apparently, she used to be a combat engineer for the Octarians, but they made her a part of infantry in the Inkling army since she had experience in that field too. She didn’t speak Inkling well and Pearl didn’t know her at all, but Pearl did think this about her: she looked like a real cutie. She had green eyes that always got Pearl’s attention whenever they entered her line of sight. She always thought it contrasted with her smooth brown skin in such a beautiful way.

Pearl blushed at the thought of her going to meet the girl, whose name was Marina. Though she was one of the best soldiers in the splatoon in the battlefield, when she wasn’t fighting she seemed really nice and just acted adorably. Pearl sighed. She was never going to get the courage to talk to the girl.

—

Pearl tried holding back a yell as she heard constant inkfire coming towards the car she was hiding behind. She heard the command for when the other side was vulnerable enough to invade be repeated- “GO! GO!” and then them being followed by screams of agony. It made Pearl constantly shed tears, knowing that soon enough she was going to have to leave her position and run forward into a state of vulnerability. She sighed yet again as she continued firing ink towards the Octarians in front of her.

“GO! NOW!” She heard a yell much too close for comfort. She saw her fellow splatoon comrades reluctantly leave their positions and run forward. She knew there were going to be shooters hiding on the side- probably many snipers, but she had to obey the call.

Shedding a tear, she rose from her position and started running. This wasn’t her first offensive, but her previous offensives in villages and fields had much less people and much less potential for there to be ambushes since there were less places for shooters to hide.

She had to continue to run until she was told to stop. She heard screams very close by and cringed since she recognized some of the voices.

Then, all of a sudden, an unbearable pain entered the left side of Pearl’s body. She couldn’t help but fall onto her stomach and cry out for help with tears occupying her face. This was it. She was a goner.

She closed her eyes out of fear and pain and began fading in and out of consciousness. Slowly, she heard the yells of her comrades fade, yet she still heard inkfire. Then, she heard close footsteps… uneven ones of one individual. More tears escaped her eyes- that individual was almost certainly there to finish the job.

She squealed as slender arms started wrapping around her small torso. She then felt the individual’s torso make full contact with her back. Extreme pressure built up on Pearl’s back as she realized she was being sandwiched between someone’s arms and torso. She didn’t dare open her eyes and only made small whimpers.

“It’s okay…” A gentle, familiar voice said. “Just stay still, and everything will turn out fine.”

Pearl’s mind exploded at that point. That voice… it belonged to Marina. That Octarian girl Pearl didn’t even know was putting herself in a vulnerable spot to protect her from gunfire.

Pearl felt Marina’s right arm lose contact with her and then heard close inkfire, clearly coming from Marina’s gun as she heard distant yells of pain.

For a few anxious moments, Pearl heard no gunfire from Marina, only worried breathing from the protective girl. Inkfire and yelling were still heard, but they were much farther away. Suddenly, Pearl felt great pressure being lifted off her back, though she heard Marina’s breathing nearby. Right after, she felt herself being lifted from the ground and pulled into a tight hug against Marina’s torso. The Octarian started running unevenly with Pearl in her arms, seemingly away from the front lines.

Pearl’s entire body shook when she heard a loud scream of agony exit Marina alongside a splat-like noise that seemed to have originated on her back. Pearl panicked as Marina abruptly dropped her and fell.

Pearl’s eyes continued raining tears as the pain only got worse. Combine that with the fatigue from fighting, Pearl couldn’t help but completely lose consciousness.

—

Pearl woke up in a bed in a tent surrounded by doctors. She was still in great pain, but it was much less than the pain she had previously endured. A doctor came up to her and said, “You’ll be fine. We couldn’t get all the ink out of your left side but the rest will heal on its own. There were plenty of opposing soldiers on that field. If it weren’t for that girl who protected you, you probably would’ve died.”

A tired Pearl said, “Marina… where is she?”

“She’s in the other room. She was shot first in the left leg and then again in the back, but she’s okay.”

Pearl cringed at the information. “Can I… see her?”

“Can you walk?”

“I think so.” Pearl struggled to exit her bed and get good bipedal balance, but once she started leaning on near-by objects, Pearl was able to slowly walk around.

She went to the other room to see that Marina was already walking. The girl looked beat up and had a concentrated expression. She was on crutches and Pewel watched as she slowly walked with them across the room.

When Pearl first saw her, her eyes teared up. That girl saved Pearl’s life. She needed to talk to her.

With a swallow, Pearl uttered, “Marina?”

The girl slowly turned to Pearl with a surprised expression. “Oh! Hello…” she said nervously.

There they went. The tears started flowing down Pearl’s face. “You… you saved my life out there… Thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” she responded quietly with a smile.

“Why? Why did you choose me when there were so many others?”

“Many others were… too far gone to save and… you were the closest person. I couldn’t let myself get help for my leg knowing I’d left a person who I could have saved behind.”

The tears only continued, this time from two pairs of eyes. Marina walked up to Pearl. “What is your name?”

“C-C-Can I hug you?”

“Heh heh… sure, but what’s your na-”

Marina didn’t finish her sentence as Pearl brought her into a passionate, tight hug and started crying as she leaned the left side of her head against the middle of Marina’s torso. “PEARL!” she yelled. “PEARL HOUZUKI!”

“Pearl… that’s a great name…”

“You’re… you’re BEAUTIFUL! You’re SO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you for saving me! Thank you so much!”

Marina chuckled as she embraced Pearl back, petting the back of her head and her left cheek. “Thank you too…”

Pearl smiled for the first time since the incident. Maybe this Marina girl would help her get through the war.

**Author's Note:**

> Why do I do this to myself


End file.
